Iran auto sector fails to bring exports to pre-sanction level

Iran exported 1891 passenger cars during the first nine months of the current fiscal year (started March 20, 2017), according to the date released by Iran's Customs administration.

Iraq, Lebanon and Armenia were among the main destinations of Iran’s car exports. Tehran also exported cars to Italy, Germany, China, France, Romania, South Korea, Spain, Tunis, Czech Republic, the UAE, Guinea and Azerbaijan were other car importers from Iran.

Meanwhile the Islamic Republic’s car imports in the 9-month period reached 57,000 units, according to the report.

Iranian automakers exported 10,000 cars (worth over $10 million) the last fiscal year (ended March 20, 2017), which was 59 percent less compared to the 24,500 cars in the preceding year.

The huge fall in Iran’s car exports occurs despite the fact that the country’s car industry has experienced output increase in recent months, following lifting of international sanctions.

According to the latest report of the country’s Industry, Mine and Trade Ministry, ‎Iran’s passenger car (including sedans and SUVs) output registered a rise by 17 percent during the first nine months of the current fiscal year (March 20-Dec. 22) to stand at 1.034 million units.

Iran’s car export registered a record high in fiscal year to March 2011 and stood at 81,596, however the figure sharply fell in next year (fiscal year to March 2012) and accounted to 38,258 due to intensified international sanctions which targeted the country’s auto manufacturing industry.

The export even decreased to 10,000 in the fiscal year to March 2014, but revived again following the removal of the international sanctions against Iran’s car industry.

Iranian automakers exported 27,000 cars in the fiscal year to March 2015, but they failed to revive the exports to the pre-sanction period.